Do you have a personal experience with harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified. You can also share your experiences on Twitter by tagging #NopeDC or @SafeSpacesDC

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

I’m sexually harassed on a near-daily basis as I walk through the Southern Avenue bus bay to get to the metro station, but today was out of the ordinary. Two guys walked past me; one made some comment directed at me that I didn’t hear, and the other asked me, “Can I call you?” I replied, “No. Go away,” to which the men responded by laughing and mocking me, repeating “Go away” in a high-pitched voice. It was eerily similar to an elementary school playground. Not one of the approximately 20 people waiting for buses stepped in to help me as I walked away.

Submitted 12/13/16 by “JW”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

I’m 5 months pregnant and was happy to find one empty seat on the metro train. I sat down next to a man who promptly started rubbing himself over his jeans.

Submitted 11/23/16 by “BL”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

This month, a new series of anti-harassment PSAs launched on the Metro and Metrobus system. The project is a collaboration between Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS), Stop Street Harassment, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

Now, more than ever, our work to build safe public spaces is critical. Within the past few weeks, we’ve seen a spike in reports of harassment across our city — especially targeting people of color, LGBTQ and gender nonconforming people, and people who are part of multiple marginalized groups. Harassers take advantage of trains and buses as environments where their targets can’t easily escape, making public transit an important space to address the problem.

The new awareness campaign has three goals:

Support people who experience harassment with messages letting riders know they deserve to be treated with respect.

Promote a culture of bystander intervention, where everyone is responsible for speaking out against harassment and making public transit safer.

Elevate our city’s most marginalized identities by featuring the faces of people who are part of marginalized groups, such as trans women of color and Muslim women, who face harassment most severely and most frequently.

In addition to training for WMATA’s frontline staff and supervisors, this anti-harassment campaign helps to create a culture of safety and community accountability.

We have a long way to go to ensuring public spaces are safe for *everyone,* but we remain committed to empowering the DC community to speak out against harassment and create public spaces where everyone feels respected and safe.

I was riding the silver line home from DC when a man sat down next to me. There were plenty of seats on the train, but he chose the one next to me. I feel like he chose me because I was busy studying and not paying attention to what was going on in the train. He placed a newspaper over his lap and began stroking himself. When I looked at him, he would stop, but when I looked away he would continue. I grabbed my belongings and said I am getting off the train, and he said “have a nice day.”

I was disgusted and went straight to the Metro police to report the incident.

Submitted 10/18/16 by “JP”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).